Wellesley

Two men shout campaign slogans near a cultural house; allegations unsubstantiated

AI-generated · every claim is source-linked

Wednesday, November 9, 2016MAthreat of violenceadvisorymedium confidence

UnfoundedNo evidence of an actual threat was found. The institutional response is documented because the alert communication is identical to what would occur during a real incident.

On Wednesday, November 9, 2016, the day after the 2016 presidential election, two Babson College students drove around the Wellesley College campus shouting slogans from Donald Trump's campaign and stopped near Harambee House, Wellesley's African American cultural house. Some students alleged the men shouted slurs and that one spat at a student; a subsequent Babson College investigation did not substantiate those allegations and cleared the two students. Wellesley College President Paula Johnson released a campus-wide statement that day, and Babson President Kerry Healey followed with a forwarded apology.

Alerts: 2
Response: —
Killed: 0
Injured: 0

Institution

Wellesley College

Private Liberal Arts · MA

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~2,400 studentsWellesley Emergency Alert (Rave Mobile Safety)

Official alert policy

Read when and how Wellesley says it will use WC Alert / WC BlueAlert (Rave Mobile Safety): summarized, quoted, and analyzed.

Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some messages in this sequence are documented (their existence, timing, and channel are sourced) but their exact wording is not preserved in the public record. Those entries appear as placeholders; only confirmed text is displayed.

INITIAL ALERTEmailAfternoon of November 9, 2016, EST, after Wellesley Public Safety received reports of the incident at Harambee House

Wording not preservedReconstructed from The Wellesley News and Elite Daily reporting on Wellesley Public Safety's initial campus advisory after the Harambee House incident

A initial alert message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.

FOLLOW-UPEmailEvening of November 9, 2016, EST, when Wellesley President Paula Johnson released her campus-wide message

Verified verbatimExcerpt from Wellesley College President Paula Johnson's November 9, 2016 campus-wide message, quoted in The Wellesley News91 chars

This community's well-being—and all that word encompasses—is foremost on my mind right now.

Johnson's letter, issued on her first major test as president (she had begun her tenure on July 1, 2016), opened with this line, which The Wellesley News reproduced verbatim

The phrase 'this community's well-being' folded all members of the Wellesley community into the institutional response without prejudging the Babson investigation that was concurrently underway

Wellesley's full alert track on November 9 had two parts: the campus advisory from Public Safety (sequence 1) and Johnson's community letter (this sequence), only the Johnson sentence is publicly archived in verbatim form

Babson President Kerry Healey's forwarded apology, included in Johnson's communication, is reported in The Boston Globe but not preserved in verbatim form

Context

Background

Wellesley College is a private liberal arts women's college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, founded in 1870, and one of the original Seven Sisters colleges). With approximately 2,400 students, Wellesley has long been associated with women's leadership in US public life: Hillary Clinton ('69), Madeleine Albright ('59), and Soong Mei-ling ('17) are alumnae. On Wednesday, November 9, 2016 (the morning after the 2016 presidential election) two students from neighboring Babson College drove around the Wellesley campus shouting slogans from Donald Trump's campaign. They stopped near Harambee House, Wellesley's African American cultural house. Some students alleged the men harassed students of color and that one spat at a student. Wellesley Public Safety issued a campus advisory that afternoon, and President Paula Johnson followed with a campus-wide email that included a forwarded statement from Babson President Kerry Healey. Babson initially barred the two students from campus but later cleared them of any disciplinary violations, finding the allegations unsubstantiated, and lifted the ban after an investigation. The case is significant for the campus alert archive because it documents a politically charged hate-incident advisory at a women's college on the morning after a US presidential election, the kind of community-advisory message that does not meet Clery emergency-notification thresholds but is nevertheless a defining feature of modern campus communications. It is also a rare cross-institutional alert: the two individuals were students of one institution at the campus of another, requiring two presidents to coordinate the response.

Analysis

Key Findings

The incident occurred on November 9, 2016 (the day after the US presidential election) and is a documented example of post-election harassment targeting a women's college's African American cultural center

The Wellesley advisory and President Johnson's campus-wide message were issued the same day, illustrating the rapid 'community advisory' track for non-Clery hate incidents

The two individuals were Babson College students at a Wellesley site, producing an unusual cross-institutional alert with both presidents coordinating messaging

Babson initially banned the students and later cleared them; the divergence between Wellesley's framing of 'hate crime' and Babson's eventual 'no wrongdoing' finding became a continuing point of community contention

Harambee House was the symbolic and physical target, its specific identification as Wellesley's African American cultural center transformed the incident from harassment to alleged hate-targeting

Outcome

Babson College launched an immediate investigation and initially barred the two students, who were not publicly identified in this archive, from campus. In December 2016 Babson [cleared the two students of any disciplinary violations](https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/babson-students-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-trump-taunts-at-wellesley-college/85993/), finding that available evidence did not substantiate the spitting or slur allegations and that the underlying speech was protected; the [campus ban was lifted](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/babson-lifts-ban-on-donald-trump-supporting-students/). Some Wellesley student organizations continued to object to the outcome. No physical injuries were reported.

Provenance

Sources

Student Paper
Wellesley Community shaken after alleged hate crime perpetrated by Babson students - The Wellesley News
thewellesleynews.com
archived copy
News
Two Men Harass Wellesley Students Following Donald Trump's Win - Elite Daily
elitedaily.com
archived copy
News
Babson College lifts ban on 2 Trump supporting-students; lawyer wants apology - CBS News
cbsnews.com
archived copy
News
Babson Students Cleared of Wrongdoing in Trump Taunts at Wellesley College - NBC Boston
nbcboston.com
archived copy
Official
Harambee House - Wellesley College
wellesley.edu
archived copy
Official
Harambee House records - Wellesley College Archives
archives.wellesley.edu
archived copy

Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Wellesley College: Two men shout campaign slogans near a cultural house; allegations unsubstantiated." Incident of November 9, 2016. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/wellesley-college-harambee-house-incident-2016-11-09/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Alert Sequence

Background

Key Findings

Sources

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